Chapter 33 #3
“Are you seriously jealous right now?” I didn’t bother turning around. Eiryx came to stand beside me. Across the courtyard, Damon leaned closer to hear Lyra. There was plenty of room around them. A ridiculous amount, actually. No reason whatsoever for him to stand that close.
Lyra smiled again.
A real one this time.
I disliked whatever Damon had said without needing to hear it. Eiryx lasted almost ten seconds before speaking, which might have been a personal record. “Are you going to kill him?”
“No. I don’t care who she talks to.”
“Clearly.”
“She can talk to whoever she wants.”
“Then you may want to call your shadows back.” I looked down. A ribbon of darkness had crossed several feet of courtyard and was slipping through the flagstones toward Damon.
I dragged it back.
A pair of candidates passed behind Lyra, and Damon moved his hand from her elbow to the small of her back to guide her aside.
My Shadow immediately tried again. Eiryx sighed.
I started walking. Toward the western archives.
The fact that crossing the courtyard happened to be the least convenient route there was irrelevant.
Eiryx fell into step. “There are three faster ways.”
“Then take one of them.”
“And miss this? Absolutely not.” Damon noticed us first. His gaze shifted past Lyra and landed on me. He smiled. Lyra turned. Her eyes found mine, and for half a second her breath caught so softly it was almost nothing. Damon probably missed it.
I didn’t.
Then she looked at my mouth. Every filthy thought I’d spent the morning beating into submission came roaring back. My gaze dropped to hers. The courtyard vanished for one dangerous second. I remembered exactly how she’d tasted and the way her mouth had opened when—
“Morning.” Lyra sounded perfectly normal. Suspiciously normal.
Damon looked between us. “Kieran.”
“Damon.” I stopped beside them. “What were you discussing?”
Lyra raised her brows. “Good morning to you too.”
“You already said that.”
“And you ignored me.” Damon was watching the exchange with entirely too much interest.
I disliked that almost as much as his hand. “Shouldn’t you be working on Light Foundations with Vareena?”
Lyra glanced toward the Umbra Rings. “Shouldn’t you be over there making people cry?”
Damon smiled faintly. “I should let you get to training.” He stepped away from her.
My Shadow moved anyway. Eiryx stepped on it. I looked at him. He stared straight ahead as though nothing had happened. Lyra, unfortunately, noticed. Her gaze dropped to the stones and followed the darkness back to my boots. When she looked up, amusement had begun spreading across her face.
Little menace.
I gave her a warning look. It only made her smile wider.
“I meant what I said,” Damon told her. “If you remember anything else from the projection, find me.”
“I will.”
“And the Council records?” That pulled my attention away from Lyra’s amusement. She seemed to realize her mistake at the same moment. “You’ll ask?”
“I already have.”
“What records?” I asked.
She looked at me. “The palace.”
Of course.
Damon nodded. “She’s looking for records surrounding the fall of the Elyndorian monarchy.
Particularly anything the Council retained that never entered the public archives.
” I knew immediately what Lyra hoped to find: answers about Aurenya, the palace attack, what had happened to her family.
And Damon had just offered her the one thing I couldn’t give her—access.
“I can’t promise they’ll release any of the records,” he told her. “But I’ll see what I can get.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Damon looked at me. A trace of amusement appeared in his eyes.
Bastard.
He didn’t know about last night. But he’d noticed enough. “Nyxara.”
“Vale.” He left beneath the eastern colonnade. I watched until he disappeared.
“Are you finished?”
I looked at Lyra. “With what?”
She folded her arms. “Whatever the hell that was.”
“I have no idea what you mean.”
“Your Shadow tried to cross the courtyard.”
Behind me, Eiryx cleared his throat.
“You can leave.”
“I think I’ll stay.”
Lyra studied me. “Were you jealous?”
“No.”
Her brows climbed. I held her stare. “You looked jealous.”
“I was watching Damon.”
“With murder in your eyes.”
“That’s his normal face,” Eiryx supplied.
I turned slowly toward him. He took two steps backward. Lyra was losing her fight not to laugh.
Gods, that fucking smile.
Last night she’d had that same mouth beneath mine, though she certainly hadn’t been laughing then. She’d been breathing my name against my lips, and remembering the sound of it was enough to make standing this close to her a problem. I forced my attention back to Damon. “I know why he’s here.”
Her amusement faded. “So do I.”
“You know what the Council told you.”
“And you know more?”
“I know Damon.” That was enough to sober me too. “He isn’t Halos. Halos pushes until you crack. Damon doesn’t need to. He’ll listen for as long as you want to talk, remember everything you give him, and make you feel as though telling him was your idea.”
Lyra glanced toward the eastern colonnade. “You think he’s manipulating me.”
“I think he’s investigating you.”
“He told me that himself.”
“I know. Just remember it when he gets good enough at being pleasant that you forget why he came.” She was quiet for a moment.
Good.
I’d take irritated consideration over blind trust. Behind me, Eiryx muttered something. When I looked, he was already leaving. “Where are you going?”
“To find people with less complicated lives.”
“Good luck.” He lifted one hand without turning. Lyra watched him disappear. Then we were alone. As alone as two people could be in the middle of a courtyard full of candidates.
She stepped closer and lifted her hand toward my temple. I caught her wrist. Her eyes met mine. My body remembered last night with humiliating enthusiasm. “You should stop doing that.”
“Checking whether you’re injured?”